Course Summary

This course will introduce concepts and apply tools from cognitive
psychology to the composition of virtual audio and haptic
environments. In particular, the salience of various auditory and
haptic phenomena to the perception and performance of music will be
examined.

Just as visual artists spend time learning perspective to provoke
3D effects, composers and virtual object designers must study the
perceptual sciences to create virtual environments which are
convincing upon hearing and touch. We will study relevant topics from
acoustics, psychology, physics and physiology. We will apply these to
the design and rendering of virtual objects not for the eye, but for
the haptic and audio senses. Principles of speech, timbre, melody,
pitch, texture, force, and motion perception will be addressed.
Various audio and haptic effects and illusions will be demonstrated.

Morning lectures will cover these topics and also feature talks by
eminent researchers and entrepreneurs working in the fields of
psychoacoustics and haptics. Afternoon labs will provide practical
experience in psychophysics experiment design and execution. In
addition to sound synthesis tools, various haptic interfaces will by
made available for experiment designs.